When you sit too long in the same position, your foot falls asleep. Or your leg goes numb. Or your butt aches. These are your body’s way of telling you that you better get up and move. We’re designed to get up and move. It’s part of the machinery. You’ve got to keep it lubed and flexible. Discomfort is nature’s sign that it is time to move on unless you’re interested in atrophied limbs or blood clots.
Emotional discomfort is pretty much the same thing. Chances are, you know exactly what I’m saying. You can relate. And chances are, in one aspect of your life or another, you’re feeling discomfort. Maybe not. Maybe it’s just me. It’s not that I don’t think that there are people out there who are at peace with the balance in their lives and who truly aren’t ignoring the discomfort, but I just don’t think that there are more of them than there are the rest of us.
You can figure out where you fall in the spectrum. There’s nothing wrong with placing yourself anywhere other than “Zen-like state of bliss” on said spectrum. I listened to an interview that Piers Morgan conducted with the Dalai Lama not to long ago. Piers asked him if he ever tried alcohol or smoking or other kinds of drugs. The answer, of course, was “no”. Do I believe him? Sure. I do. And I also think that he’s an exception. We should all be so lucky.
I think discomfort is good. It keeps us awake. It keeps us honest. The problem isn’t experiencing the discomfort. You should allow yourself to feel it. Relish it, in fact. Embrace it. Listen to it. Follow it. It will take you to amazing places. The problems arise when you find yourself ignoring the discomfort. That leads to the emotional equivalent of blood clots, and those suckers can kill. If nothing else, they damage.
Illuminate Possibilities 